Birthshock
by darkestboy
Summary: The Doctor and Rory have spent a month mounting an army in order to rescue Amy and Melody, gathering allies wherever they go. Set during and in between A Good Man Goes To War and Let's Kill Hitler.


**Name:** Birthshock  
**Characters:** 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song/Melody Pond, Madame Kovarian, Dorium Maldovar, Fat One, Thin One, Colonel Manton, Lorna Bucket, Dominicus, Lucas, Madame Vastra, Jenny Victorian, Silurians, Commander Strax, Sontarans, Henry Avery, Toby Avery, Danny Boy, Cybermen and Canton Everett Delaware III.  
**Synopsis: **The Doctor and Rory have spent a month mounting an army in order to rescue Amy and Melody, gathering allies wherever they go. River meanwhile has realised that the day has finally come for her identity to be known to everyone. Set during and in between _A Good Man Goes To War_ and _Let's Kill Hitler_.

_A child is the most precious thing in the universe. The one thing that must be protected at all costs but what do you do when your child is born in a hostile environment with designs of cruelty being attached to it?_

Amy Pond had wished she was alone in the birthing chamber precisely at this moment and she knew it was odd wish, considering that she was on the cusp of giving birth to her child.

The Eye Patch Lady had opened a hatch in the birthing chamber and regarded Amy in a cold, clinical manner.

"Here it comes. Push."

Amy had screamed her last and then heard the faint echo of crying, crying that then grew as Amy grimly realised that she was no longer alone. The Eye Patch Lady along with two doctors and a group of soldiers had entered the birthing chamber. Before Amy could do anything, the umbilical chord was cut and the baby was wrapped in a blanket and passed to the sinister woman smiling over the tired new mother.

"Give me my baby," Amy shouted as she made a feeble struggle to try and get up from her bed, only realising that she had been strapped down.

"All in good time," the Eye Patch Lady said, not looking at Amy but instead trying to mollify the newborn child. The child cried continuously, almost as if it was trying to break free from the woman's grasp. "She's definitely your daughter, Amelia Pond."

"Who are you?" Amy said, keeping her focus on the Eye Patch Lady and not noticing that one of the doctors was about to sedate her. "Why are you doing this?"

"All in good time, dear," the woman smirked, passing the baby to the other doctor, who promptly left the room. "And you can call me Madame Kovarian."

Upon seeing her baby leaving the room, Amy's mind went into a panic and she began to trash harder against her restraints, panic in her eyes also.

"Where are you taking her? I want my baby! Give me my baby!"

"Rest dear," Madame Kovarian said as she made a shushing noise. Amy began to slip into a stream of unconsciousness as the effects of the sleeping drug took over her body and Kovarian stared at the unconscious young woman. "You've had a long day. Everything will be fine."

Kovarian moved away from Amy and looked at the two guards that had entered the room. She only knew them as the Fat One and the Thin One and while she had merely seen them as little more than fodder, she addressed them sternly.

"Guard her," Kovarian spoke to the two of them, addressing them as if they were pets rather experienced soldiers. "And the second she wakes up, you alert me. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," replied the Fat One and with that, Madame Kovarian left Amy in the capable hands of her soldiers.

The easy part had been completed but with the Flesh avatar no longer around, Madame Kovarian realised that it was only going to be a matter of time before a certain Time Lord had made himself known and she had much to prepare for the trap she needed to set. She knew she was tempting fate but there was no way she could resist the idea of fooling the Doctor twice. The urge was too powerful.

Rory Williams gaped on the second he witnessed what he had believed was his wife was now little more than goo on the floor on the TARDIS. Both he and the Doctor gave a pointed stare to not only the mess that was on the floor but also to each other.

"You have some explaining to do." Rory couldn't help but let his anger get the better of him during the moment. "How long have you known?"

"It's not that simple, Rory," the Doctor said, trying to placate his friend.

"How long, Doctor?" Rory snapped. "Weeks? Months? When did this happen? Now is not the time to be secretive."

"As far as I can tell, it's possibly since before America." The Doctor went to the scanner and showed Rory the results of the full body scan he had done on Amy. "I needed to be sure, it's why we went to see the start of the Flesh. Without it, there was no way I could've known completely."

"So, where is she?" Rory took his eyes off the scanner and looked at the Doctor. "And who has her?"

"She said something about a woman with an eye patch and hatch." The Doctor turned to Rory. "It's not much but it's a start. Rory, you have to trust me now."

"I know," Rory replied but a tinge of uncertainty was in his voice. "I'm gonna be a father. I mean, I am a father."

"Yes, you are," the Doctor smiled. "And we'll get them both back and I know exactly where to find help."

Rory gave him an odd look, mixed with curiosity and confusion.

"You don't get to be 909 years old without making a few friends," the Doctor smiled again as he logged the co-ordinates for a certain time. "And calling in a few favours."

With that, both the Doctor and Rory had landed in their first location and for Rory, it was a territory and a race that he was all too familiar with — the Silurians and they didn't look pleased to see either the Time Lord or the man known by some as the Last Centurion.

Lorna Bucket had been dreaming again. It was her first day off in three months and she had spent the day trying to get some rest but her mind was active and wouldn't give in to the mercy of a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

_In the Gamma Forest, she had been a little girl. It was the most dreary of places to be living and even at her youngest, Lorna was determined that she would get out of there with the first chance that came her way._

But chances had a tendency of slipping away and while it had felt like hours, her altercation with the man known as the Doctor had only lasted thirty seconds.

"Run," the man had said to her as he grabbed her hand and the both of them fled for their lives.

When they had stopped to catch their breath, Lorna looked at the blue box sandwiched between two of the tallest trees in the forests and the stranger she had trusted headed into the box and disappeared. He had left her where he knew she would be far away from harm.

"Someday, Doctor, I'll find you," Lorna said, vowing her statement as the blue box faded from existence.

Lorna woke up with a nervous jolt and got herself out of bed. Clearly a peaceful sleep was not going to happen and instead, Lorna went to work on a prayer leaf that she intended to give to the child known as Melody Pond and that was assuming that Madame Kovarian's watchful glare over the child faltered for at least a tiny moment. Lorna hoped for both Amy and Melody's sake that the Doctor did come for them, sooner rather than later.

Stormcage Containment Facility was experiencing something of a chaotic night. River often smiled with relief when others attempted to escape the prison too, even if their attempts usually failed. As she watched a gruff man being manhandled back into his cell by at least four guards, none of them seemed to pay attention when the TARDIS materialised outside River's cell.

"On time as always," River said tartly as the Doctor stepped out of the blue box, wearing what looked to be a Victorian suit.

"Did you think I'd forget?" the Doctor smiled, flicking his sonic screwdriver and unlocking River's cell before being pointed with his next word. "Again."

"You're only Time Lord." River smirked as she took the Doctor's hand and stepped inside the TARDIS. "Where to now?"

"Spoilers."

The Doctor shushed River with his finger on her lips and closed the door behind them. Within seconds, the TARDIS materialised out of the prison facility with a guard looking on rather miffed with River's departure.

Hours had passed and Amy Pond's eyes snapped awake with terror. She looked over to see that the Fat One had instantly called for Madame Kovarian while the Thin One advised her not to struggle.

_I'll do more than struggle. I'm getting out of here with my baby_.

There were plenty of things that were racing through Madame Vastra's mind at present. The hunt for Jack The Ripper had been one of them and within an hour, she would set out and return, victorious in her annihilation of the most notorious killer in all of London. Her methods wouldn't necessarily meet her friend, the Doctor's approval but her intent was in the right place.

Vastra had stripped the servant girl in her employ down until she was wearing nothing. In the past, Vastra had seen nothing about an ape's naked form that she would consider at all beautiful but times had certainly changed and Vastra had discovered, her tastes too.

Standing before her, Jenny were bare and she was beautiful and Vastra had guided her to the bed, pinning her down but smiling in order to reassure the human female. They had yet to work on a safety word that was appropriate for the both of them.

"Do you trust me, Jenny?" Vastra said as she lay on Jenny's stomach, her face mere inches from the servant's.

"Yes ma'am," Jenny murmured as Vastra's left hand went down low and the Silurian began to caress her neck, slowly at first as she worked her way to Jenny's face.

"Good," Vastra said in a silky voice before kissing Jenny passionately, toying with the girl, making her squirm.

But it was Vastra who was to be surprised as Jenny then with her released hands managed to turn Vastra over, so that their roles were now in reverse and Jenny was on top, pinning Vastra's hands down. Vastra flicked her tongue and looked at the young woman with intrigue and delight.

"Do you trust me, ma'am?" Jenny's voice had a sharpness to it, but underneath the sharpness, Vastra could tell the girl was only pretending to be tough. Vastra went along with it.

"Maybe you should give me an incentive," Vastra smiled as Jenny then continued where they had left off in the kissing department.

It would be another few hours before either human or Silurian came up for air as they both succumbed to the other.

When the guards known as Fat One and Thin One had been dismissed to tend to a more trivial problem, two others had been drafted in and Madame Kovarian watched as they both loosened Amy's restraints as Amy got off the medical gurney.

"I don't need your help," Amy snapped at the soldier who she knew as Lucas while the other one, Dominicus had kept a watchful eye on her. Amy then glared at Madame Kovarian. "I want my baby."

"All in good time, Amelia." Madame Kovarian addressed Amy as if she were a simpleton. "I'm not a monster."

"Really?" Amy moved closer to Kovarian with both Lucas and Dominicus in close range to her. "What kind of a person holds a pregnant woman against her will and denies her the right to see her baby? If you're not a monster, then what the hell are you?"

"Interested." Kovarian's words caught Amy off guard.

"Interested in what?"

"Your child," Kovarian said in a chilly manner. "I assume you've picked a name for her."

"What's that got to do with you?" Amy folded her arms in annoyance. "I want to see my baby now."

"Fair enough," Kovarian said as she glanced in Lucas's general direction. "Bring the child to her mother."

"Yes ma'am," Lucas said as he left the room with both Dominicus and Madame Kovarian making sure that Amy could not follow him.

Amy sat on the medical bed, glaring at the other soldier and Kovarian, waiting for Lucas to return with her child.

"Melody," Amy let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry?" Madame Kovarian asked as the red headed woman looked at her with pure contempt.

"Her name is Melody."

Rory had landed in the living room of a friend that he hadn't seen in a way for over forty years. The man had moved several times since their last encounter but Canton Everett Delaware III certainly left a bit of a trail behind.

"You're a hard man to find," Rory said, as he reluctantly accepted a scotch from Canton's personal collection. "I like what you've done with the place."

"I'm not really the domesticated type." Canton looked around his study, realising that there was something of a mess to be had with the place. "Peter's more into the domestics than me. I don't mean to be rude, Rory but why are you here?"

"I need your help." Rory decided to keep it simple. "Amy's gone missing."

"Again?" Canton could tell his tactlessness didn't sit well with Rory, so he tried to soften the blow with a constructive follow up question. "The Silence?"

"No," Rory said. "A woman called Madame Kovarian took her."

"Never heard of her." Canton admitted.

"Until a week ago, neither did I or the Doctor." Rory came closer to Canton now. "Which is why I'm here. We need your help in getting Amy back. The Doctor has a plan but it's going to take a while and when he shows up, we need to know you'll be on board."

"It usually does with the Doctor." Canton smiled and for a flicker of a second so did Rory. "Count me in."

"Thank you." Rory hugged the man and left the study. Canton watched from his window as Rory walked down the street and headed into a blue box that then disappeared into the night.

"Anytime." Canton pulled the blinds from his window and checked his gun. Instinct told him that it might not be that long before the Doctor and Rory came knocking on his door again.

Every time she stepped inside the TARDIS, River had this sinking feeling that one day it would be her last. The last of everything. The last journey both her and the Doctor would go on, the last wrong they would right and the last time they would kiss but tonight was not the night for any of that. That was something she was confident with.

"How long does it take to get changed?" the Doctor asked as he knocked on her door but didn't enter.

_Ever the gentleman, my love_.

River hated corsets but she had managed to get into them with enough ease and the Victorian dress that she managed to find had looked nice enough. All she needed was a fetching hat and a muff and she was sorted. Rummaging through the closet again, she managed to find both necessary items and when she had checked herself out in the mirror, she headed out to see her Doctor.

"What do you think?" River showed off her outfit to the Doctor.

"You look beautiful," the Doctor beamed at her. "We've landed."

"Why do I get the feeling that there's more to this birthday than you're letting on?" River raised an eyebrow as the Doctor escorted her out of the TARDIS.

"Because you know me too well?"

"That makes two of us." River smirked as she stepped out of the TARDIS and the sight of a particular gentleman took her breath away. "How did you?"

"Spoilers," the Doctor smiled as he closed the doors of the TARDIS behind them. "Stevie, my old friend, have you met River Song? It's her birthday."

Henry Avery had been used to looting many a vessel but there were times when it dawned on him that the vessels he tending to raid now were ones that belonged in the depth of space and not at sea and to say it was a culture shock for him and his men would've been an understatement.

Toby did not approve of his father's looting and Henry knew that another would not be so fond of it either. The other was someone he dreamed about the night before and someone whose presence he had detected before the boatswain entered the pilot's lounge.

"Captain, he's returned," the boatswain said, looking a little gruff.

"I knew he would," Henry smiled as the Doctor and Rory stepped in front of the boatswain with Toby following them inside. "My debt is to be repaid, I take it?"

"That makes things easier," Rory said solemnly.

"Though I doubt the way in which my debt is to be repaid will be," Henry smiled at the Time Lord. "Am I correct, Doctor?"

"Fancy an adventure, Captain Avery?" The Doctor looked at the now space captain, his eyes filled with suggestion.

"Now that sounds like a far more tempting proposition." Henry made no effort to suppress his glee. "Come on, Toby, we've got work to do."

As Henry and Toby left with the Doctor and Rory in the TARDIS, the boatswain had been promoted to acting captain and promptly took over piloting the ship.

"Hope he knows what's doing," the boatswain grumbled to himself as the Siren stood behind him, glowing green but resolutely mute as always. She casted her attention to outside the spaceship where the ruins of a Cyber Fleet were lighting up the heavens.

Madame Kovarian had taken leave to her quarters but she was not alone. In her company, Colonel Manton had performed another act of duty that would be seen as going above and beyond the call. As Manton had finished pleasuring her, Kovarian gave him one last furtive kiss before slipping out of her bed and using one of the sheets to cover herself.

"This must never happen again," Kovarian said sharply but Manton looked at her expressionless, knowing that this type of encounter between the two of them would happen again.

"As you wish, ma'am." Manton began to dress himself while Kovarian, wrapped in the bed sheet sat on a chair in the corner and watched. "Do you think she knows?"

"About her child's purpose?" Kovarian glanced at him, realising that he was now talking about Amy Pond. "I fear she'll guess soon enough. He doesn't pick stupid people to travel with him after all."

"Sooner than you think." Manton glanced over Kovarian's head and she turned to look at the monitor where she had been able to watch Amy. "Shall I apprehend her?"

"Not yet," Kovarian smiled as she watched the footage for herself. "Let's see how long this plays out for. Let's see how good she really is."

"You're making a big mistake," Dominicus grunted as Amy had managed to tie him up with a spare set of handcuffs.

Lucas was behind Amy, already bound and gagged. He had been the one to fall for Amy's faking of stomach cramps and been foolish enough to come to her aid. She had taken his gun and forced Dominicus to restrain him. Now the same fate was happening to Dominicus.

"Sorry but you've said more than enough," Amy smiled at Dominicus, pulling out a thick black cloth and promptly gagged him with it. She then picked up Melody and kept the gun with her other hand. "We're going, sweetie. Time to find daddy and Uncle Doctor."

Amy glanced at the struggling duo of Lucas and Dominicus trying to get free and she closed the door behind her. If she could get to where the ships and escape pods were docked, sneak on board one of them, get off this horrible asteroid and find a way of getting Stormcage or even back to Earth, then she stood a chance of finding the Doctor and Rory again.

"Too many odds," Amy muttered to herself, trying to keep Melody calm. "It's okay, we'll be off this place soon enough."

And then it went to hell for Amy as a siren began to bleat out four words she could've done without hearing.

"Escaped prisoner, Amelia Pond. Locate Amelia Pond."

Dread took over Amy and she ran blindly down a corridor, hoping to find something, anything that would help her out of her current predicament. She was determined to get both herself and her baby safely off the asteroid, regardless of the cost.

Fat One and Thin One had been in the middle of sleeping with each other when the sirens had gone off, alerting them of Amelia Pond's escape.

"At this rate, we're never going to get any time to ourselves," Fat One sighed as he began to dress back into his military uniform quicker than his husband.

"And if we don't get out there soon enough, Kovarian will have our bloody heads and that's if we're lucky." Thin One had picked up the pace and had managed to get dressed. Both of them had given each other a kiss on the lips before running out to apprehend the female prisoner.

Amy thought her luck had changed when she pointed a gun at Lorna Bucket and demanded that she was taken to a ship.

"Amy, there's nowhere for you to go." Lorna tried to warn Amy but her voice was laced with concern for Amy and Melody, not that Amy was paying attention to her voice, what with Melody beginning to cry. "She's never gonna stop looking for the both of you."

"She's not coming near my baby ever again," Amy gestured for Lorna to open an escape pod. "Now get us out of here."

Amy looked nervously as turning around the corner were about twelve soldiers and stepping out from in between them was Madame Kovarian. At her behest all of the soldiers had their guns primed at Amy.

"I'm afraid you're going nowhere, Amy," Kovarian said darkly. "You've given us enough excitement for one day. Think of the child before you do anything rash."

"You wouldn't." Amy stared at Kovarian darkly. "Not a child. Not one that you want so badly."

"A child no, but it's mother who's been making a big fuss?" Kovarian glanced at her soldiers. "They're excellent shots and I'm sure Lorna there would catch little Melody before she fell. Hand her over Amy before I make her an orphan."

Amy hesitated for a moment but it was a moment that Manton took full advantage before pulling the trigger. Amy looked in horror, wide eyed and before she slumped to the floor, Lorna had caught Melody in her arms.

"You killed her?" Lorna looked at Kovarian shocked before realising that no blood appeared from where Amy had been shot.

"Sedated her dear," Kovarian smiled as she took Melody off the shocked female soldier. "We're not savages here. Escort Miss Pond back to her quarters."

Lorna looked on as Kovarian's men picked up Amy and dragged her unconscious body back to her prison. As Kovarian took off with the infant and Manton quickly followed behind her, Lorna wondered what was so special about an infant that Kovarian would take the kind of risks that she was taking. Lorna vowed to find out sooner rather than later.

While a month had passed and Amy's visits with Melody were stricter in their supervision, Lorna had spent her efforts continuing to make a prayer leaf for Melody Pond in her own language but the only water in the forest was the river and Lorna realised that the translation for anyone who understood her language would read the prayer leaf to say River Song instead of Melody Pond. A sense of foreboding overcame Lorna when she had finished the leaf.

River had sat in her cell, contemplating. Her fun with the Doctor and Stevie Wonder on her birthday had been overshadowed by the look of disappointment on Rory's face when she told him that she couldn't help him. River hated herself for letting him down but she also knew that she made the right decision and then she stared at a picture.

"Things look grim, my love." River stared at the photograph intently. "But I'm coming, I promise. I just hope your allies are enough until then."

River tucked the picture away in her diary and went to change into something more comfortable than Victorian clothing. It wouldn't be long now before she would finally have to explain herself, once and for all.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rory were landing on Demon's Run and then weren't alone. Also inside the spaceship were their own force — Canton Everett Delaware III, Henry Avery and his son, Toby, Madame Vastra and her serving girl, Jenny, Commander Strax and at least three Judoon.

"Let's give them a surprise of our own, shall we?" The Doctor smiled darkly at his newest allies and Rory kept a neutral stance, hoping that the element of surprise was going to work in their favour.

"Amelia Pond, here we come."

The hour had come. For the Doctor, he had no idea that this was going to be one of his darkest hours to date. That he would rise so high, only to fall so much further.

He had managed to acquire a spare robe and managed to infiltrate the Headless Monks. He listened as Manton rallied Kovarian's men and waited for the colonel to identify him all while his allies sprang into action. Demon's Run had been taken under the Doctor's control.

While Danny Boy had managed to be shooting at enemies from overhead, Vastra and Jenny had taken two soldiers out in the control room and both Canton and Henry Avery had also managed to neutralise various soldiers as did the slew of Judoon, Sontarans and Silurians on their teams but now wasn't the time to get too enamoured in victories. Much as he could see a wonderful life in Melody Pond with her proud parents, there was something eating at the Doctor about the girl.

_How did she come to be? And why would Kovarian want a child — the same child from my two best friends so badly?_

"There has to be more to this," the Doctor said aloud as both Vastra and Dorium Maldover were looking at Melody's records. Kovarian had definitely scanned the baby over and over again but for what, exactly?

_Nine Months Ago_

Rory had noticed that he missed the bit about carrying his new wife over the threshold but considering that their place of residence was now a time machine, he felt the need to get the moment.

"Rory, you really don't need to." Amy tried to protest but realised that it was useless. Rory seemed determined to get this wedding tradition out of the way. "Oh, well, go on then."

"Your room awaits, Mrs Williams," Rory said in a seductive voice as he carried Amy into a spare bedroom and laid her down on the bed.

"Mr Pond." Amy looked at him with pure desire in her eyes, a desire that Rory was more than determined to reciprocate.

Rory began to undress himself as quickly as possibly and Amy similarly wasted little time in removing her wedding dress. Before long, the two of them were in each other's arm, succumbing to passion and sealing their marriage, little realising in the throes of their love for each other that they were in the midst of conceiving a child, designed to be a weapon. It would be a few weeks after their adventure on the spaceship with the 4000 passengers that Amy would realise she was pregnant and that was the same moment that she had also been snatched from her home and replaced with a Ganger. Kovarian had got to her before she could tell Rory he was going to be a father.

Amy's mind had flashed back to the present situation. She had been huddled in another room, away from the hail of bullets and swords, away from the carnage that was ensuing outside. Melody was crying and Amy was doing her best to comfort her child.

"It's okay, precious, mummy's here," Amy said soothingly, clutching to Melody for dear life, only for a second or so to pass for Melody to be little more than goo running down her top and on the floor.

Kovarian had tricked her again. That may not have been a baby Amy had been holding onto but her reaction to being confronted with this truth was as primal as they came.

"Rory!"

Amy's screams were horrifying and near deafening. Rory had pushed a Headless Monk out of the way to come to his wife's aid, one that was then killed on the spot by Canton.

"They took her." Amy could barely look at Rory; tears streamed her eyes as he held her. "Our little girl is gone."

The Doctor had realised that Kovarian had duped him. The Eye Patch woman smiled at him as she realised that he had figured out her deception.

"I win, Doctor." Kovarian was still staring at him from the monitor in a malignant fashion.

"I will find you, Kovarian," the Doctor snarled at her. "You will pay for this. That child is not a weapon."

"Yes, she is, Doctor," Kovarian said firmly. "She's my weapon and one day, very soon, she will destroy you. The greatest threat to the universe that is you and she will make you no more. And you won't even see it coming, Doctor. Not for the first time, is it?"

Kovarian logged herself out before the Doctor could respond. He had sent Vastra, Dorium and Canton to aid Rory and the other against the Headless Monks but the second he had stepped out of the control room and into the main area, everyone was in bad shape.

Commander Strax, Lorna as well as several of the Judoon and Silurians had been killed, Avery and his son had fled the scene before the madness had ensued as did Danny Boy and even Canton looked like he was about to drop, though Jenny had managed to get him to sit somewhere where he could rest.

Sitting alone in a corner were Amy and Rory, looking completely devastated. Rory had placed his hand on the Doctor's cot that had been given to them for Melody but when the Doctor approached them, Amy would not look at him.

"I will find her." The Doctor looked at both Amy and Rory but the former still couldn't look him in the eye. "You have to believe me."

"This is your fault," Amy mumbled as she stood up to the Doctor. "They wanted to stop you, didn't they? And now our baby is paying the price. This is all your fault."

"Amy," Canton interjected, coming up behind her and Rory. "He wasn't to know."

"Wasn't he?" Rory asked, first looking at Canton and then at the Doctor. "It's always you. They always come for you. And now our daughter's gone because of you. How is it not your fault, Doctor?"

Before the Doctor could answer, everyone else had focused on the sound of a teleport. Within seconds, River Song was standing there, smiling. Only this time, it was a smile that was not appreciated by anyone in the room.

"Where the hell have you been?" The Doctor barked at River angrily. "Every time you've called, I've come running, so where the hell were you, River?"

"I couldn't have prevented this," River replied solemnly as she looked at the cot.

"You could've tried." The Doctor was not going to let River slip out of this one. "Who are you? No more games, no more 'spoilers', River. Who are you?"

"You really want to know?" River said, as she pulled out the prayer leaf from the cot and showed everyone. "Read it."

Amy pulled the prayer leaf from River before the Doctor could have a look at it himself and muttered in a frustrated. "I can't understand it."

"It's your daughter's name in the language of the Gamma people." River stepped closer to the Doctor, Amy and Rory as Canton, Vastra, Jenny and Dorium looked on. "Except they don't have a word for Pond."

"I think we know our daughter's name." Rory said, almost reluctantly. It was as if he was trying to connect the dots and from the looks on the Doctor and Amy's faces, it was evident that they were doing the same thing. Then it dawned on all three of them.

"Impossible," the Doctor said, faltering. "But that means?"

"Yes." River smiled at her Doctor.

"You can't be." Amy looked lost as she stared at the prayer leaf.

"It means the Doctor will find your daughter." River looked at Amy and Rory with sincerity in her heart. "And I know this because it's me. I'm Melody. I'm your daughter."

Both Amy and Rory looked at River with a sensation of disbelief. All this time they thought they had known the mysterious woman, well as good as anyone could've done and they were never prepared for this. It also seemed that the Doctor hadn't been as he disengaged himself from the circle and headed for the TARDIS.

"Where are you going?" Amy called out, enough for the Doctor to glance her over.

"Like your daughter said, I'll find you." The Doctor turned his attention to River during that last sentence. "Get them all home, okay?"

Amy, Rory, River, Canton, Vastra, Jenny and Dorium all watched the TARDIS fade from existence and all of them decided at that moment that they weren't going to let the Doctor find Melody alone. They were going to help him whether he liked it or not.

"Can that thing carry more than four people?" Amy asked her daughter, pointing at the vortex manipulator.

"It would be better if we had more than one of them," River replied as Vastra produced a vortex manipulator from her own wrist. "Aren't you clever?"

"I aim to please." Vastra shot River a sly wink, which didn't amuse either Jenny, Amy or Rory, though Canton and Dorium gave each other a look of amusement.

"Can we not do the flirting?" Amy said as she looked at her daughter. "I used to think it was harmless but now that you're our daughter, I'm not sure what to think anymore. You have a lot of explaining to do."

"I will explain everything better to you after this is over." River looked at both her parents, trying to assure them. "I promise."

"I have a feeling though some things have to be lived," Rory said, noticing the solemn look River gave him in response. He didn't dare ask and neither did Amy or anyone else.

"Come on; let's go before he really needs our help," Amy instructed, holding tightly to River as did Rory. The three of them teleported off Demon's Run.

"Wait for us," Canton shouted as he held onto Vastra along with Jenny and Dorium and then, they too left Demon's Run behind.

The TARDIS had landed in Germany in 1941. Somewhere, the Doctor knew that Hitler was making the world into a very unpleasant place for everyone but also here was the same place that Madame Kovarian had been last scanned with baby Melody. The Doctor was going to make sure he didn't leave this time period without Melody safely in the TARDIS with him and then back to her parents. He also had the distinct impression that he could also be walking into another trap.

Kovarian had spotted the TARDIS from afar and when she went to check on Melody in the nursery that had been prepared for them on arrival; she then also went to consult her employer to inform him of the Doctor's arrival.

"You were right." Kovarian regarded the scarred creator and his creatures of terror coolly. "He's come right on time."

"I knew he would." Davros smiled, running his metallic hand on his controls as he stood in between two of his Daleks. "This will not be the Doctor's darkest hour. It will be his last. You know what to do."

"As you wish, sir." Madame Kovarian towards her master and took her leave. The Doctor didn't believe that a child could be used as a weapon against. He was about to learn the error of that particular way of thinking.

Amy, Rory and River had landed with a thud in the middle of the square of some place within the centre of Berlin.

Amy got herself up off the ground, partially helped by Rory and brushed herself off before looking at the vortex manipulator. "The Doctor's right. That is a cheap way of travelling."

"Don't think it's meant to support three people all at once," Rory observed. He could feel a tension in the air between Amy and River and it was one that he did not want to see escalating.

Amy was mad, Rory could understand that impulse but like him, Rory assumed that Amy was also confused - confused about River. River had been a confusing person to be around after the Doctor but Rory not had anticipated what her true identity was going to be. Both him and Amy had questions to ask, ones that living through could not answer quickly enough but he became distracted by the sound of another teleport surrounding them.

"Nor do I think a vortex manipulator can support four." River gently tugged at both her parents' arms and moved them out of the way.

Stumbling in a heap were Canton and Jenny. Vastra and Dorium had managed not to fall down, though both of them clearly felt a little lightheaded.

"That is the last time I travel like that," Dorium muttered, helping Canton to feet as Vastra did the same to Jenny. He then turned to Amy, Rory and River. "Any sign of the Doctor?"

Rory was about to answer before a familiar figure cam behind him and then stepped in front of Dorium, facing the blue skinned alien.

"What part of 'don't follow me' did you lot not understand?" The Doctor asked all of them. There was a slight seriousness in his tone, which everyone ignored.

"You got us into this, Doctor," Vastra said, producing her katana, impressing both Canton and River at the same time. "Did you really think we were going to stand aside?"

"Fair point," the Doctor agreed before looking at Amy and Rory. "You have to trust me. It's never been more important."

"I trust you," Amy said, her voice low as she produced a gun. "But I am not staying in the sidelines. She's our daughter, Doctor."

"Yes I am." River looked at both her parents. Amy's expression softened a little and Rory hugged his daughter, before releasing her. After a moment's hesitation, Amy then also went to hug her daughter. River broke the embrace.

"Not to break up the family reunion," Canton interrupted as he looked at River. "But if we're supposed to find your younger self and stop that lunatic, where exactly is she hiding at? I mean, where you think Kovarian would keep you?"

"Are we even sure it's Kovarian who's responsible for all this?" The Doctor mused to himself as everyone stared at him. "900 years. I can usually tell between a leader and a hench-person and that woman is definitely the latter."

"Or a monkey and the organ grinder," Jenny said. She was curious where the Doctor was going with this. "Just saying is all."

"Leader or lackey, it doesn't matter," Amy snapped. "I don't care what she is. I just want to find her and get our baby back."

"He has a point, Amy," Rory admitted, holding tightly to his own weapon. He could tell from the Doctor's look that the Time Lord didn't necessarily approve of everyone sporting a weapon of some kind — even Dorium had something that looked like a stun gun. "If she's not the one in charge, I'd like to know who is."

"We'll know soon enough," River looked at her vortex manipulator. "I've found her. When I say her, I mean me of course and not the one standing here."

"Let me see that." The Doctor brushed past Rory to check River's arm. Sure enough, there were directions to the younger version's whereabouts.

"Where are they?" Amy went to look at the vortex manipulator.

"About four miles that way." The Doctor pointed to his left. "What are we waiting for? Geronimo."

But before anyone could actually move, another teleport had flashed through, trapping everyone within it. In seconds, everyone had disappeared from the square and landed in a place where a familiar bunch of faces were staring at them. They were surrounded by them.

"We have been expecting you," the Supreme Dalek squawked at the Doctor, pointing his gun at River's chest. "You will come with us."

"I don't think so," River smirked, pointing her gun at the Dalek. "Do you really want to try it?"

"River." The Doctor warned her tersely. "I think maybe we should go with them."

"Not just you," the Dalek squawked as a trap door lever was switched and the Doctor fell through. "Her too."

"Doctor!" Amy shouted. In fury, River aimed at the Dalek and shot towards it, before another trap door lever was pulled and this time, River fell through.

"Melody!" Rory shouted. He had tried to grab a hold of his daughter but she slipped through the ground too late for him to do anything.

Suddenly a screen appeared over their heads and two people were standing in front of the screen. Amy and Rory recognised Madame Kovarian, a look of pure smugness running through her face but the disfigured man with the sunken eye sockets and metallic hand was unfamiliar to them.

"We knew you'd come." Davros smiled, a smile that disgusted everyone in the other room. Even Dorium and Vastra looked a little perturbed from the smile. "The Doctor's army. Ever loyal to the last."

"Who are you?" Rory asked. "What have you done with our daughter and the Doctor?"

"Keeping the timelines in order." Kovarian interrupted Davros. "Melody Pond was destined to become a weapon to destroy the Doctor and Melody Pond will carry out that destiny."

"No, she won't." Amy looked at both Davros and Kovarian in the eye. "If I know her and I'd say I know her a damn sight more than you do, then I have just one thing I'd like to say about your prophecy."

"And what's that, Miss Pond?" Davros smirked. Amy's anger amused him to no end. Another foolish human who placed too much confidence in the Doctor.

"You're wrong." Amy smirked. "And it's one mistake you both won't live long to regret."

"And neither will you," Davros snarled in response. "Daleks, exterminate them."

As the screen went off, the first Dalek went to shoot before Dorium pulled out his stun gun and blasted the creature into atoms.

"I thought you said that was meant to stun them," Canton smirked, impressed with the gun that Dorium had been sporting.

"I lied." Dorium smiled. "I do that sometimes."

"I'll have to watch out for you," Canton said as he held his gun tighter, spotting that a few more Daleks were coming their way. "We've got company."

"Everyone assume their positions," Rory ordered, as everyone followed his command, before whispering into Amy's ear. "You know what to do."

"Oh I do," Amy smiled, holding her gun tighter as the room was surrounded with three new Daleks, more neutered in colour than the one that was now shattered to bits on the floor.

"Exterminate!" The Daleks screamed, shooting before everyone broke into sides. Canton, Vastra and Amy had swayed to the left while Rory, Jenny and Dorium had moved to the right. All Amy had to do now was to get past one Dalek without being slaughtered and out the door and all would be fine. She was going to get Melody back, even if it was the last thing she ever did.

The Doctor was used to being imprisoned and being held in a force field type of one hadn't been too much of a shock. Davros had pulled something similar on him when he was trapped on the Crucible with Rose and when it came to predictable outcomes, the Doctor could read the mad scientist and Dalek creator like a book.

"I should've guessed it was you." The Doctor touched around the prison but there was no way out as Davros worked his way around the force field. "Survived the Crucible then, did we?"

"I didn't need your help after all, Doctor." Davros smirked as he turned his attention to two of the Silents dragging an unconscious River into the room as her gun was left on a table. "Be careful with her."

"What have you done with her?" The Doctor barked at Davros. "I told you she is not a weapon."

"Oh, but she is, Doctor," Davros looked over at River without a tint of compassion. She was soon strapped onto an upright gurney of sorts, with a metallic device placed around her head. "The greatest weapon of them all. I've been working years on this one. This woman you love, she's your executioner. At least when she wakes up, she will be."

"What do you mean?" The Doctor looked as the mad creator gave the two members of the Silence the nod.

River began to rise from her sleep but only because several volts of electricity were seeping through her body. River screamed for a bit but calmed herself a little. She knew what this device's purpose was. She had seen machines like this before. She knew that they were all in on this one — Davros, the Daleks, Kovarian and the Silence. She also knew what would happen if they succeeded. She wasn't going to let that happen.

_I'm sorry, my love_.

Amy had managed the impossible and gotten away from the Daleks but the screams that ensued in the room she was running from almost made her blood run cold. She could tell that Dorium had been killed and feared that the next person could be Rory. A part of her nearly turned back but then she remembered what Rory had instructed her to do. He had given her a diversion and now she had to find Melody and teleport back to the TARDIS with Vastra's vortex manipulator.

"Canton, look out," Rory shouted from across the room as Canton dodged the ray of a Dalek's gun.

"Exterminate," the Dalek shouted, preparing to fire at the CIA agent again.

"Exterminate this, pal." Canton managed to pick up Dorium's gun and shot the Dalek, full blast, incinerating it within moments.

"Nice move," Vastra shouted from across the room as she wielded her katana that came down on another Dalek's ray gun, slicing the thing off completely. "But so is this."

"Now that's impressive, ma'am." Jenny had to but admire her mistress's handiwork.

"Do you really think I'd go into battle without the finest of weaponry?" Vastra smiled as she sliced the remains of the ray gun in half.

"Apparently not." Canton observed but Rory was less impressed with Vastra's skills.

"You will not defeat the Daleks." The weapon less creature responded in defiance. It was the last Dalek standing and it was powerless. "We are never defeated. Davros is never defeated."

"First time for everything." Rory looked at the helpless creature. Devoid of a simple ray gun, it was now unable to cause the usual devastation that a Dalek would cause. "Now where's the Doctor and my daughter?"

River was doing her hardest to resist the waves that were seeping through her, struggling with what Davros was trying to force her into doing.

"You'll kill her," the Doctor barked angrily. "Stop this now, Davros."

"Correction, she'll kill you," Davros replied darkly. "And unlike Dalek Caan's treachery, this plan will come to pass."

"Doctor, I can't, I can't hold on," River screamed, trying her hardest to resist.

"Resist River," the Doctor muttered darkly, watching the usually confident woman looking scared, something which he hadn't associated with River in the times they've met.

Madame Kovarian smiled as she watched over Melody Pond. The child had been strapped into a device that connected with the same device River was bound to in another room. Soon enough, both baby and adult versions of Melody Pond would bring about the death of the Doctor and Madame Kovarian would herald a new legacy in the universe with Davros.

The Dalek blinked at the four remaining strangers in front of him. The Silurian woman who raised her katana in a threatening manner at it's eyestalk as the young girl stood beside her. The American who held the gun of the fallen fat alien in a similarly threatening manner but those three didn't worry the Dalek. It was the young man, dressed as a Roman soldier who worried the Dalek the most. Out of all of them, this young man had the most to lose and the most to gain and that made him far less predictable than the others.

"He'll be dead soon." Kovarian looked at the young baby but realised that someone was behind her, pointing a gun at the back of her head. "Your precious Doctor but you already know that, don't you Amy?"

"It doesn't happen like this." Amy kept her hand on the trigger. "Now you're going to get my baby out of that machine and give her back to me."

"And if I don't?" Kovarian asked calmly. "What happens then? Can you do it, Amy Pond? Murder an innocent woman stone dead? All for your mad man in a box, is that what he would want from you? Is that what you are to him — a trained killer? Like daughter, like mother."

"You made my daughter into that," Amy snapped angrily. "You did. And the Daleks, and that thing in the chair and whoever else you've got working with you. You did this. You took your own hatred towards the Doctor and stole my child for your sick little games because you couldn't stand that he's defeated you lot again and again. This is anyone but the Doctor's fault and I'll be sure to let him know that, once you give me back Melody, right now. You understand that, Kovarian?"

"I think not." Kovarian smiled darkly, stepping between Amy and Melody.

"This is your last chance." Amy pointed the gun at Kovarian. "I am warning you."

"Then do it, Amy Pond." Kovarian snarled. "Kill me if you think you can. If you have the stomach for it."

Amy hesitated for a moment but it was enough time for Madame Kovarian to lunge at her, trying to seize the gun out of Amy's hands. Both women fought and struggled before a shot went off and Amy's face froze in horror. Kovarian looked victorious but surprised as she fell to the ground, blood seeping from her chest.

"I didn't mean to ..." Amy's voice trailed off but Kovarian wasn't even looking at Amy anymore. She turned her head to the side, before shutting her eyes.

Amy stared at what she had done and then threw up in horror. Amy Pond knew she was many things but she never thought a killer would be one of them. As much as she despised Madame Kovarian, Amy had hoped that things wouldn't have come to this. The only thing that snapped Amy out of her reverie was the sound of Melody crying.

"It's okay, mummy's here," Amy smiled as she picked up her daughter and comforted her. "We're just going on a little trip and soon enough, we'll see daddy and Uncle Doctor real soon. Okay, Melody?"

Amy noticed she was crying — tears of relief but also some of fear and uncertainty. Amy didn't know what was going to happen next but she hit the button on River's vortex manipulator and soon enough, both her and Melody were inside the TARDIS, safe and sound.

"We're safe." Amy had managed to get Melody to stop crying but found it was a lot harder for herself to do the same thing.

River had broken out of her restraints and with a gun held firmly in her hand, she smiled at darkly at both the Doctor and Davros, a smile that both men shared in return but only for one of them was it a smile too premature.

"And down." River swung around and within seconds both of the Silents that were standing there were killed instantly.

"How did you?" Davros looked at her in disgust and then at the corpses of the Silents as well. "Impossible."

"I'm not fully human," River smirked at the Dalek creator. "It would've taken more than you and Madame Kovarian to get me to turn on the Doctor. And I have a feeling that your friend Kovarian is no longer with us."

"But you were meant to kill him," Davros screamed angrily as he tried to shoot a bolt of electricity at River. She dodged and fired at the controls behind Davros, releasing the Doctor from his own imprisonment.

"And who told you that, Davros?" The Doctor looked at the crippled scientist with icy contempt. "Even when you don't rely on prophecy, you still can't get it right, can you?"

"You'll suffer for this, both of you." Davros tried to shoot at the Doctor with his metallic hand but this time, River shot first, blowing his hand clean off. Davros screamed in agony.

"What about the Silence and Kovarian?" The Doctor looked at Davros with no sympathy. There was a time when the Doctor knew he would've shown Davros some compassion but this wasn't it. Davros looked at the Doctor with pure scorn.

"There were only foot soldiers. I can find more of them. This entire universe is filled with creatures out there that want your destruction, Doctor. I can always start again."

"And yet you were happy to destroy my life to kill him." River observed wryly. "So, why shouldn't I kill you stone dead?"

"River." The Doctor tried to interrupt but she ignored him.

"You're his companion, Professor Song." Davros regarded the woman coolly. "Or should I say Melody?"

"One of many." River looked at the Doctor for a moment before focusing her attention back to Davros. "But why me? And just so we're clear, Davros, the Doctor won't stop me from killing you. He might not like it but he won't stop me."

"She's right," the Doctor said silently. "Answer her question."

"If you must know then, both of you," Davros said as he began to smile. "It's because she was the one who you let your guard down for, Doctor. You travel with so many people but how many do ever let in, really? Somehow and for some reason, she's the one you allowed closer into you soul than most of them. You two share a connection so deep but even then, you're both guilty of keeping secrets from another."

Both the Doctor and River looked at each other. As River's mind flashed to the altercation her love would have with an astronaut in Utah 2011, the Doctor's mind flashed to the library where River's own song would come to an end.

"And one more thing." Davros began to laugh darkly before landing the stub of his shot hand on a button. "Emergency temporal shift. Have fun Doctor because this woman will kill you, one way or another."

As River attempted to shoot at Davros yet again, the evil creator disappeared out of the room, leaving both her and the Doctor staring at each other, unable to say what was on their mind. River was the first to walk out of the room. She might not have been able to stop Davros from getting the last laugh but she was determined to make sure her family and new friends weren't all killed by Daleks. The Doctor paused for a moment before following her. Davros would have to wait for the time being.

Amy felt like she had been waiting for an eternity in the TARDIS until she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Holding tightly to Melody, she went to check the monitor and let out a sigh of relief when she realised who the owners of the footsteps were.

"Look, Melody, there's your daddy and his army," Amy said sweetly as she showed her daughter that Rory was coming towards the TARDIS with their new friends. "Now all we need to see is your older self and the Doctor and we're -,"

"- Here," River interrupted as both her and the Doctor appeared in the TARDIS and looked at Amy.

"You're alive then." Amy looked at River and then Doctor. Before they could say anything to her, the door opened and Rory was standing them, a smile beaming on his face. "Rory!"

Amy didn't give Rory time for breath as she placed Melody in the Doctor's arms and headed towards her husband to kiss him passionately. As she did, Canton entered the TARDIS, quickly followed by Vastra and Jenny.

"Not all of us made it," River mused as she realised that Dorium was missing from the crowd inside the spaceship.

"If it wasn't for him, there'd be less of us here now," Jenny said quietly. "He was braver than he looked."

"Smarter too," Canton agreed as he held a firm grip on the gun that Dorium had left him.

"Good old Dorium." The Doctor held tightly to Melody and then looked at River. For some reason, River decided to keep a safe distance between her current self and her younger self.

"You have some explaining to do." Amy tore herself off Rory's embrace and looked at the older version of her daughter standing before her.

"Spoilers." River didn't look at Amy but on the Doctor's nod, set a co-ordinate for Victorian London.

"That's not a 'get out of jail' free card, Melody," Rory said as he took the younger version of his daughter into his arms and then looked at the older version. "We're your parents. I think we deserve to know the truth. As much of it as you can tell us."

"You found me," River said as she indicated the Doctor placing Melody into her cot. "You're good parents. Better than any little girl could dream for."

"But we nearly weren't." Amy looked at River. "Kovarian, she was determined to make you a weapon and so was that other guy."

"Davros." River answered

"Does that mean we've changed everything?" Rory asked, looking at the Doctor and then at River. "The person you're supposed to become. Does she exist now?"

"Time can be rewritten," the Doctor said, looking up at Amy and Rory.

"That doesn't help," Amy replied. "River, Melody, what will become of you?"

"Now that I can't answer." River looked at her vortex manipulator. "This thing's burnt out. You need to take me back to Stormcage."

"Why?" Amy asked.

"Not everything changes," River answered. "Some things take a different turn."

Both Amy and Rory gave River a dubious look. The Doctor turned his focus to Canton, Vastra and Jenny instead.

"First though," the Doctor said as he looked at the American, the Silurian and the serving girl. "I need to send you lot home."

"Do you really?" Jenny asked. "I was getting used to it in here."

"Don't worry, Jenny." The Doctor smiled at her. "I'm sure our paths will cross again in the near future."

"With your track record, Doctor," Vastra smirked a little. "Perhaps sooner."

"Oi." The Doctor pointed his finger at them. "Thank you both. And Vastra — try not to eat any more serial killers, eh?"

"I'll try." Vastra shot him a cheeky smile before both her and Jenny made their way around the TARDIS to hug everyone. Vastra whispered in Amy's ear. "You'll be fine. Trust him and her."

"I do," Amy whispered back into Vastra as she glanced at the Doctor and River. "With my life."

As Vastra and Jenny stepped out of the TARDIS and the doors closed behind them, Canton turned to look at his four new friends again.

"Guess that leaves me."

"You could come with us." Rory offered. "We're not exactly short of space. Though maybe thinking about it, I should've said the same to Vastra and Jenny."

"I'm tempted." Canton looked around the TARDIS and then at the Doctor, Amy, Rory and both versions of River/Melody. "But it's like Vastra said, I have a feeling I'll be seeing you lot again someday."

"Yeah." River's mind flashed to the older version of Canton she met in Utah. "Someday."

"Bye Doctor." Canton hugged the Time Lord and then his companions before stepping out of the TARDIS.

As Canton watched the TARDIS fade from the living room of his home, he then pulled out a blue envelope from his pocket. For some reason, he decided to hold off reading it. He wasn't sure why but he had a gut feeling the next time he would meet anyone in the TARDIS; it would be under worse circumstances than his recent altercation with them.

"So, this is where we leave you?" Amy looked around at Stormcage as River headed back into her cell. "Our own daughter in a prison cell, for something we don't know?"

"Assuming we don't know." Rory looked at River, theories spinning in his head over what possibly could've lead to his own child becoming a prisoner in the Stormcage Containment Facility.

"Except you haven't left me," River pointed to Rory holding onto Melody. Rory had changed into something less Centurion before pit stops. "Whatever happens now is not your fault. Either of you."

Both Amy and Rory looked at each other, before they decided to hug their daughter in her grown up form. River smiled sweetly as she whispered into Amy's ear.

"He must never know."

Amy looked perturbed but noticed that River was now looking at the Doctor. If River meant that the Doctor must not know of his death, then Amy was even more confused. Surely, if Melody/River had been the astronaut, they would've prevented his death? Then again, Amy knew another answer to that thorny topic.

_Time can be rewritten_.

Looking at River one last time, Amy and Rory headed back into the TARDIS with Melody, closing the door behind them. The Doctor had not followed them in, so for a while the spaceship stayed in one place.

The Doctor looked and assumed that Amy and Rory were not listening into him and River but he still couldn't be all that sure.

"I know, River," the Doctor said as he whispered in her ear. "Utah, 2011. Amy's Ganger told me."

"But they?" River kept perfectly still and noticed that the Doctor was now wearing an earpiece. One that scrambled conversations if she wasn't mistaken. "You can't tell them. Can you?"

"Things are going to change, River." The Doctor pulled away from her but place his hands on her shoulders. "Because they need to. We can't keep meeting in the wrong order. This isn't how relationships work — of any kind."

"What does that mean?" River looked at him, confused. "Doctor, what does that mean?"

"Spoilers." The Doctor put a finger to his mouth before taking River in for a kiss. The kiss lasted longer than their last one and when it broke, River watched as the Doctor stepped inside the TARDIS and faded away.

"Spoilers." River muttered before heading back to her cell. The look on the Doctor's face had worried her but then she realised that the last few words he spoke to her weren't intended as a bad thing but the opposite. She would see that mad man with a box again and it would be sooner than she expected.

Amy and Rory were in their bed, for the first time in the longest of times and after passion had consumed them and they made love, there was silence — the right kind of silence. Amy nuzzled against Rory's chest as he used one hand to stroke her hair and another was placed on the cot that Melody was now sleeping in. Amy kissed her husband and smiled at her daughter.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Rory said as he looked at the two most important women in his life.

"That I'm totally going to be the disciplinarian and you'll be the one that Melody wraps around her little finger?" Amy laughed a little but the seriousness on Rory's face made her sit up. "I know."

"We're parents now." Rory sat up too and held onto Amy's hands. "You and me — a dad and a mum. She has to come first."

"And she will." Amy said. "When this day is over, we'll tell him. We'll tell the Doctor that we have to go back to Leadworth. He'll understand."

"Yeah." The Doctor said to himself. He had been standing from afar the door of Amy and Rory's bedroom, ready to convey similar news. "I understand well. Bye, bye, Ponds."

And with that, the Doctor walked in, knowing that while one end was coming, a beginning was also about to take shape.

- The End-


End file.
